The Italian Super Cup is a pre-season football competition held the week before the season begins in Italy every year. It is contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season, as a curtain raiser to the new season. It is usually played at the home of the Serie A champions. In 1993 and 2003 it was held in the American cities of Washington, D.C. and East Rutherford. The 2002 final was played in the Libyan capital Tripoli.

If the same team wins both Serie A and Coppa Italia, then the Supercoppa is contested by the Serie A winner and the Coppa Italia runner-up. This has happened so far in 1995 (Juventus), 2000 (Lazio) and 2006 (Inter).

Currently, A.C. Milan holds the record for winning the cup the most times, winning it five times since the competition began in 1988.

The 21st edition, played in August 2008, was won by Inter, Serie A champions, who defeated Coppa Italia winners Roma 6-5 in the penalty shoot-out after a 2-2 draw at the San Siro.

The 2009 Italian Super Cup will be a match that will be played by Serie A 2008–09 winners Internazionale and Coppa Italia 2008–09 winners S.S. Lazio.

The match will take place on 8 August 2009, and probably will take place in the Beijing National Stadium in China.

F.C. Internazionale Milano

Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale and as just Inter in Italy, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy, founded in 1908. Inter are the champions of Italy, having retained their crown on May 16, 2009, their fourth successive title.

Inter are the only side in Italian football to have spent their entire history in Serie A, making them the only club that has spent all the seasons in this top tier from its foundation in 1929-30. Playing in black and blue striped shirts with black shorts, they have 17 Serie A titles to their name. Including the Coppa Italia and the Italian Super Cup, Inter have a total of 26 trophies won in Italy. Outside of their homeland, the club have also had success in European and World tournaments; they won the European Cup in two successive finals in 1964 and 1965. They have also won the UEFA Cup three times and the Intercontinental Cup twice also in 1964 and in 1965.

Inter play their home games at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, also known as San Siro. The ground, which they share with rivals A.C. Milan, is the largest in Italian football, with a total capacity of 80,018. Inter train at the fields of sports center "Angelo Moratti" (better known as La Pinetina) in Appiano Gentile, near Como. The term Inter Milan is a nickname used primarily in the English-speaking world to differentiate it from other teams named "Inter", and is not used within Italy.

Internazionale have never been relegated from the Italian top flight in their entire history, which dates back all the way to 1908; a fact Nerazzurri fans hold in high regard. By comparison, Milan have been relegated twice. As of 2007, following Juventus' relegation to Serie B for the 2006-07 season following the "Calciopoli" scandal Inter is the only Italian club that holds this honour, and its century in the top flight (counting the upcoming season) is one of the longest unbroken runs of any club in the world.

The current president and owner of Internazionale is Massimo Moratti. His father, Angelo Moratti, was the president of Inter during the club's golden era of the 1960s.

S.S. Lazio

Società Sportiva Lazio, (BIT: SSL) commonly referred to as Lazio, is an Italian professional sports club most noted for its football section, founded in 1900 and based in Rome. Lazio participate in thirty-seven sports disciplines in total, more than any other sports association in Europe.

Lazio's association footballers, who play in sky blue shirts with white shorts, have won Serie A twice, first in 1973–74 and then again in 1999–00. As well as winning five Coppa Italia trophies, Lazio have earned silverware on the European stage, winning the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Super Cup both in 1999. The club has spent most of its history in the top tier in Italian football, where they are currently playing in the 2008–09 season.

Home games are played at the Stadio Olimpico, a stadium they share with city rivals A.S. Roma.